First Sight in the After
by rkbrown1
Summary: Brienne and Jaime have just arrived in King's Landing. While he goes off to find Cersei, she's left with her thoughts, as she is for a few weeks before she see's him again. What will she think of the new, refined Jaime Lannister? Undertones of J/B romantic feelings. Told from Brienne's perspective as best I could. Please review, this is my first story I've posted!


When they arrived in King's Landing, she hadn't been sure what would become of her. She had walked into the Red Keep behind him, let Margaery Tyrell's handmaidens take her in to their care and nodded after his back as he walked in the direction of what she could only presume was Cersei. Suddenly, Brienne was struck that, despite her sworn duty, she wasn't quite sure what she was doing here.

They'd cleaned up as best they could before entering the gates, but she could see as Margaery's ladies tended to her that they hadn't done near fine enough a job. How long would they stay with her, she wondered. Certainly not long enough to make her beautiful, as they could not, but perhaps long enough to cleanse her of the person she'd been on the road moments before.

Would they do the same to the same to Jaime?

She had to find the Stark girls, she remembered. Sansa and Arya, daughters of her Lady Catelyn, now many weeks gone. What would she do with them? Where would she take them? How would she protect them? Would she be alone again?

Of course she would be. Brienne chided her silly mind to stop it from wandering.

This seemed like a different world, she thought. So different from Harrenhall or the baths or…anywhere she'd been with Jaime. That was when she knew. When she looked back on her life there'd be a before Jaime and an after Jaime, distinct and separate with _Jaime_ in between.

This was the start of after.

One of the ladies remarked to her that she should rest, and finally they left her to rest. She walked over to the bed and sat upon it. Firm, but softer still than what she'd known in the recent past. Did she still know how to sleep in a nice bed? When had she last truly slept? In Tarth? In Renly's camp?

She wasn't sure. She was tired though, so she started to undress. She saw the mirror in the room's corner and walked toward it, pulling off her shirts as she walked. It wasn't until she was completely bare that she lifted her eyes to look at herself.

There was the scar from the bear on her neck. Light scrapes and bruises everywhere. She looked thinner, but still strong of arms and thighs. So this was the body the Kingslayer had seen that night in the bath. Not much to see, except proof that she was certainly a woman. She supposed it only fair, as she'd seen all of him then too. Certainly a different experience.

How beautiful would he be painted in King's Landing's hand? Would she see him thus? Would she see him soon? Would her mind ever quiet?

She traced the scar with her fingers, proud and ashamed of it at the same time. He'd certainly left his mark, and she didn't mean the bear.

Since coming to the Red Keep she hadn't seen Jaime. It had been a few weeks now, but she supposed he was busy with the Kingsguard and his sister and she'd been spending her time walking the grounds alone. It was a beautiful place, but she was anxious to leave. But she couldn't. Not without Sansa Stark, who was now wife to Jaime's brother, Tyrion, or Arya Stark, who was nowhere to be found. She hadn't found a solution to any of this, so she just kept walking, hoping that the discomfort of the sun's heat or the clothing she was forced by convention to wear would not distract her mind from planning her next move.

Brienne stopped her endless march to look over a ledge at the lady Sansa. She was impossible to miss with her shimmering auburn hair. Beautiful, and truly a lady. A reflection of her lady mother in so many ways. She stood and thought for what seemed like hours, but searching her mind still yielded no new plans or ideas. And then someone was next to her.

Jaime.

"There she is." She remarked.

"Yes, there she is."

"You made a promise…"

"To return the Stark girls to their mother, who's now dead." He was cheeky.

"To keep them safe." She was angry now. He frustrated her to the core. It was then that she finally looked at him, fully.

"Arya Stark hasn't been seen since her father was killed. Where do you think she is? My money's on dead. There's a certain safety in death, wouldn't you say?" His hair was cut short, his beard gone. His jaw she could see for the first time was perfectly angled, and his eyes handsomer without the hair in his face. She wanted to slap him. "And Sansa Stark is now…Sansa Lannister. Bit of a complication."

"A complication does not release you from a vow." As she said this, she wondered if she'd dug too far.

"What do you want me to do? Kidnap my sister-in-law and take her where? Where will she be safer than here?" He was quietly indignant and positively irritating. She could rip out his throat.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you think she'll be safe in King's Landing." Her teeth were gritted in defiance, and her jaw held upright half in defiance and half in avoidance of truly looking at him again.

He swallowed. Looked off onto the water. Then looked her in the eye. "Are you sure we're not related? Ever since I've returned every Lannister I've seen has been a miserable pain in my ass. Maybe you're a Lannister too. You've got the hair for it, if not the looks."

And he was walking away from her, again. From the back of him she could see his golden hand. Then she knew again. No more stump, a golden hand, no more beard, a fierce jaw, no more Jaime, just a Lannister prick who'd killed a king and fucked his sister.

Before, _Jaime_, After.

This was Jaime in the after, a merging of two time frames which dismantled each other at their intersection, dismantling her with it.

To hell with him. Though she couldn't deny he was more beautiful than any man had ever been.


End file.
